I was extremely naive, self-admitted, outright ignorant about dog boarding/kenneling. When I asked my groomer for a recommendation, she said a few of her clients use Hightest regularly. I went online and the Hightest website sells their boarding as "a vacation for your dog". Maybe if you leave your dog home alone for long periods of time in their own waste without attention or exercise, Hightest may seem like a retreat to them. Actually, they might just feel right at home. Boarding: I used them over a weekend, Sat-Sun and strongly suspect that my dog was left in a filthy cell (run) for well over 12 hours, so any dog that has been properly trained and will not mess their den, will be miserable being boarded this way. My favorite part was picking her up, she's filthy, sad and mess all around her, and the Hightest employee pretends not to see it, even when I made a direct comment, his reply, "oh that must have just happened", really, because some of the poo had completely dried over ?!? Weeks later, the thought of having left her there is still saddening. Our princess is a member of our family, she is also a very good girl and an excellent "trained retriever", also no electric collar needed or ever even considered. Training: The fact that Hightest is using electric collars widespread on such an excellent working breed like Labs is horrific, they (Hightest) are contributing to bad temperament of a breed that was created to work for us and in unison with us. With greeders like Hightest, a breed that has been nearly perfected over the last three hundred years is being dumbed down (ruined) and may never be able to evolve into problem solving/working breed that would otherwise be real competition for Collies. Hightest will not get another dollar from me to fund their destruction of this wonderful breed or to operate their dog storage facility. Other than the comment about her cell being messed, I made no mention of anything else to Hightest, they are seemingly confident about all of their practices and take extraordinary pride in their business. If you care about the Labrador Retriever breed do not use Hightest, do not buy a dog from them, six week olds will not have the manners that only mom and the litter can teach, you would then take him back for training, only to have him jolted into executing commands. Positive reinforcement works best, but it is very time consuming for the first year. A year is a a small investment for someone you will share 10-13 years of your life with. read more

They weren't just awful; they were cruel. I had heard great things about them and their motto and ads and even voice message says, "TRAINING CENTER FOR ALL BREEDS!" So I called and the gal asked me what kind of dog my son had and I said, "Gus is a bully (part bulldog and part pitbull) and she said, Great". That's it. No questions, no history, NOTHING. I placed a reservation and she said, "just bring or fax his paperwork from the vet". So my son and I brought Gus up there from our homes in the bay area. Gus has been boarded before with no problems!!!! In fact, he was a favorite at one kennel. We needed Gus to be trained and socialized. Gus was scared from the get-go, but the young girl working said she had a pitbull herself and Gus would be fine. We took Gus to his kennel and the other dogs were going crazy, of course, and when we put his blanket in (and I repeatedly asked her to get his rubber Frisbee) for comfort and found out she never did til the 5th and final day, he was scared but was curious. He immediately took to the dog next to him (divided by wire fence) and they sniffed each other. We said goodbye. Fast forward, my son gets a call 4 days later saying, "Gus is aggressive and won't come out of his cage." They have tried everything and he won't let him near them". When I called the next day, the gal said they tried to put a noose on him and pull him out." I thought why would Gus be scared of them and to come out of his cage." I knew they had done something wrong and that we needed to get Gus out of there. She then called my son to come get him, that Gus was to aggressive. "What dog wouldn't want to get out?". Connor had to drive the 3 hour drive to get him and he called me hysterical. He found Gus bleeding all over his legs and paws and his blanket was completely yellow and Gus had feces on him. My son was yelling at them for mistreating Gus and they were screaming at him that Gus was vicious and the sweet,young gal who checked us in, was yelling at my son, "he's fucking vicious." You didn't tell us he was a pitbull!" Connor was floored. "WHAT?" Connor send me pictures of Gus bleeding all over his car. One, you don't say we train all breeds, you should find out more about the dog. Two and the biggest was WHY DID YOU WAIT 5 DAYS!!! That was just cruel and unusual punishment to make Gus suffer. Third, don't claim you are a training center for all breeds. Tell people who you really are and that is a place for mild mannered LABS that don't follow simple commands like, "sit". Also, any breed would go retrieve a dead bird and bring it back to you. PLEASE DON'T PATRONIZE AN ESTABLISHMENT that could be so cruel and cold. Wait...... unless you have a cute, little lab. read more

Don't be fooled by the facilities or the nice staff! I bought my Chocolate Lab puppy from them, and looked forward to their training. After a short while I learned from them my dog was not progressing as they liked. When I brought her home she was scared of everything, and she had a seious urinary tract infection! They were definitely abusive with training techniques they used, My dog has been with another trainer for nearly 3 months now, and he said the puppy will never be able to be used for hunting due their abusive "E" collar training. read more

We bought our lab puppy from Hightest this past fall. She is now a beautiful, healthy, energetic little retriever who can't be kept out of the water. The Hightest staff were very professional and had great advice for us first-time retriever owners. Their facilities are amazing, surely a labs version of heaven. We will be sending our pup up to them for puppy and gun dog training, having been thoroughly impressed with the training staff and seeing their trained dogs work. Highly recommended. read more

It's a real shame I can't give this place ZERO stars based on my experience this past Saturday. I called a few days before the appointment to confirm everything was fine, and that I would like to fax my puppy's' records to make sure everything was in order before making the trip. The woman I spoke to on the phone was ALICE. She told me (very rudely) to just bring the records and the money. I also asked if I could bring a blanket or a toy. Her response was "you can bring a toy, but we won't give it to them anyways." Unfortunately, I ignored her rudeness and kept my appointment. When I arrived on Saturday they told me that my dog could not enter their kennel until she had another vaccine, which they would be giving. I informed them of her life threatening reaction to one of the vaccines she had previously gotten, and that I did not want anyone besides my veterinarian giving her a vaccine. ALICE said/chuckled, "Well if she doesn't get the vaccine and gets the flu, oops sorry." That was pretty much the last straw for me. The whole situation could have been prevented if I was able to fax the records beforehand like I had requested. ALICE in the most UNPROFESSIONAL person I have even seen in my life. She was rude on the phone, to the customer being helped before me, and to me in person. I sincerely hope she has no contact with the dogs, based on how she treats paying customers. I will NEVER be coming back. read more

We took our 10 year old Alaskan Malamute, who has been boarded many times over his life, to be boarded at High Test Kennels for 4 days over the Thanksgiving Holiday's . We were a little leery of the smells of feces and urine when given the tour but boarded the dog anyway thinking the best based on past" reviews". When we picked up the dog both he and his bed were saturated in urine and filth. The bedding had to be replaced along with his collar. On the drive home we had to keep the windows down because the smell was so bad. We immediately came home and gave him a bath. The following day we took him to PetSmart to be bathed to help with the smell. Part way through his grooming, PetSmart called and said they couldn't get the smell out of him and asked if they could use a neutralizing solution. They did the best they could but there is still trace odors. The following week the dog had a couple accidents in the house one of which had blood in the urine. We took the dog to the vet and he was diagnosed with a bladder infection. [Never had one before] He is on antibiotics and seems to be doing well. As a pet lover we are still" apologizing to our dog" for leaving him at High Test Kennels. We feel bad that we didn't trust our noses and our gut feelings about the kennel when we first went on tour and smelled the stench If you love your dog as we do, trust your nose - Don't Board your dog there read more

Hightest is a training puppy mill! I spent hundreds and hundreds there on training my pup. The basic school was acceptable but once he returned for the intense hunting school I realized this was not the place for my dog. Their idea of "good training" is repetition no matter what the cost is to the dog. My pup left the program early and had small injuries and hygiene problems that should have been caught much sooner. My pup was very overweight and overfed. The older staff is consistently rude!!!! Don't send your dog here!!!!! Tell your friends!!! Even the ones who don't have dogs!!!! read more

Puppy Parents BEWARE, this place is a cruel puppy mill with a terrible training program and a neglectful boarding program. Sorry for the long post but this was awful! My family, who are dog breeders themselves, got our first family dog from here a few years back, a lovely chocolate female. Now here is where we made a mistake: we sent our secretary to go pick up the puppy, we didn't actually see what the facilities were like, if we had, we would NOT have taken home a puppy in the first place! About 1 year ago we decided to get a chocolate male from here also, as the first dog from this kennel was such a success! The grounds looked nice when we arrived but we walked into the office and talked to the staff, excited to pick out our new male chocolate, we noticed the rows of cages in the back room and all the barking. HighTest keeps their own dogs in rows of cages covered in pee puddles and feces... This should have been a red flag, but we were too excited for our new puppy to notice it. We walked over to their "Puppy House" and it became clear that this was a puppy mill. More chain link cages holding the mothers of the puppies, who were kept in puppy tubs. My family used to breed dogs and I can tell you from a first hand experience that mother dogs become very stressed and anxious when separated from their puppies, even when they are already weaned and ready for their new homes, the mother dog still cleans then and watches out for them. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for the mother dogs at HighTest, sitting in cages feet away from their whining and yelping puppies, unable to see them or check on them, that in itself is almost cruel! The puppies themselves were cute and happy to see us until we picked them up, every single one instantly froze when we held them, as if they had not been handled or picked up often.. not a good sign.. Our new puppy was very difficult from the start, extremely hyper, scared of all noises, and very difficult to train, barley got the hang of potty training in four months. So we sent him, along with our older female( for support, as they had become quite attached to each other), to HighTest to be in their training program for the summer. This was a HUGE MISTAKE. When we arrived after three months to pick them up, the dogs looked and smelled terrible. Our older female was pretty overweight, which was very frustrating as she was perfect when she arrived. And the young puppy had patches of fur missing from his legs, like he had been chewing them. When we got them home, we noticed they both began to cough and the older female started shaking and whimpering whenever we tried putting her collar on, likely scared of having an e-collar on, which is what HighTest uses in their training program. We took them to the vet and he told us that the female was overweight and the missing patches of fur on the puppy were most likely caused by him chewing his legs due to stress or anxiety, oh and they BOTH HAD KENNEL COUGH. Another thing: apparently the new puppy is actually dumb, which is why training him had been so difficult...It's been a year now since we have had the new puppy and he is still a mess, still very needy and hyper and scared of loud noises and very difficult to train. We have now hired three trainers to try and work out his issues and try and teach his manners but each one has failed and all three have informed us that our puppy is one of the dumbest dogs they have ever worked with. We even consulted with a K9 behavioral expert who confirmed that he does have very low intelligence and had even said that he exhibits all the signs of a puppy who was separated from his mother too early. I did some research on her claims and turns out, she was right, below is a link to a website that perfectly describes our problematic puppy. All the signs are pointing to him being weaned and separated from mom too early. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/09/29/puppies-taken-from-litter-too-soon-develop-behavior-problems-as-adults.aspx I would not recommend purchasing a puppy from HighTest or using their training or boarding facilities, stay away! read more

Hightest does a very poor job of screening for genetics. When we purchased our yellow lab from Hightest we were extremely pleased with the dogs pedigree and training and as a result, paid top dollar her. Everything went well for the first 3 months. The dog was living up to her resume. After about 3 months we noticed that when she became overexcited or was hunting in mild temperatures she would collapse, paralyzed from the mid section back to her hind legs. She was unable to walk for as much as 20 minutes. We had her diagnosed and after having blood work done we were told she had EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse), a genetic disease which is becoming much more prominent in labs. The test we had performed cost $60 but apparently that was too expensive for these breeders to administer. When we contacted Hightest we were told they would be happy to have us return the dog in exchange for another one (unscreened like the first one) but would not compensate us in any other way. In fact one of the owners said if we returned her that could probably resell her as a family pet for around half of what we paid. I then requested that she return half of what we paid and call it even but make no headway with that offer. As with all Labs, they become very attached to people and vise versa in a very short period of time and returning her was not an option. Further, why would anyone in their right mind go back to the same breeder to gamble again! She retired from work 3 months after we purchased her and has been a family pet for the past 5 years. PLEASE DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE DOING BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE. Although they may know how to train dogs their business ethics leave a lot to be desired. read more

I would also give this place a negative 0 out of 5 if possible. We took our lab here, who was a year old. He has been to a kennel before, so we thought it would be ok!!! It was not. When I picked him up, literally after two days, he acted like he had not been outside to go to the bathroom for two days. He pooped right on the outside of the door as I brought him out. Poor thing had been holding it for a long time. And, we paid extra to have him, "supposedly" taken outside and ran two extra times, just for extra exercise. The man who brought him out of the kennel began yelling at him just because he was excited to see me, you would have thought he was being treated like a herd of cattle!!!! Then after I got home, I noticed the pads on all of his paws were raw and bleeding, obviously he was stuck in a cage for two days. In the kennels there are 30 or more dogs all next to each other barking and going crazy! It stressed me out, I could imagine my poor dog!!!! After having my dog at other kennels, he was tired and happy, because he had been played with and ran, like a kennel should be doing. Once he was home from Hightest, he had so much energy, he couldn't sleep for hours!!!! I'm telling everyone I know with dogs about this place and never thought I would be one of those people who write a review like this, but I'm so upset, I did not know what else to do....!!!!!!!!!!! Please do not take your dog to this kennel if you consider your pet part of your family, he won't be treated like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mad! read more

I have owned dogs my entire life. Usually highly intelligent and well trained, retired police and military dogs. Hightest came highly recommended by a business partner who had bought several labs from them. I couldn't have been happier with the pup we selected: she was smart, loving, adventuresome and took immediately to training. Sadly, we had her for only a little over a year; we had her put down because she was suffering terribly from congenital kidney failure. Hightest may not have know of the defect in her line, but from the frosty reception I received on calling them to tell them about our loss, I wouldn't bet on it. read more

Hightest does a really good job, as far as I can tell, of screening dogs for genetic problems. This is so important for labs, as well as other breeds, and after 3 labs from backyard breeders who had hip dysplasia, we came to Hightest. But they wean the pups from the mother at 4-5 weeks, which is much too early. They insist you take the puppies home at 6 weeks. We asked if we could pay to have her stay with the mom and were told "no". It is illegal to sell puppies at 6 weeks in California without permission from a vet. Hightest does not seem to care about this, and they don't seem to have that permission. There are very good reasons for not taking the pups from the dam so early. They aren't in any sense properly socialized. They bite a LOT more and don't understand authority. We were told by a vet not to get a puppy taken from the mom that early, but had already committed. The vets we took our pup to after we got her were actually angry that she had been taken so early from the mother and that she was sold so early. They told us it was illegal. They also told us that Hightest gave shots at 5 weeks, showing that the pups were weaned way too early, and that Hightest apparently did not understand that those shots had no effect, since the mom's immunity was still in the puppy at that point and would fight off the shots. Hightest also gives the puppies absolutely no socialization to people, so if you could leave the puppy there she would be with only the other pups from the litter. That lack of socialization to people AND by other adult dogs would be even more harmful. Our little pup is very smart, and hopefully very healthy. But she is not like the other lab pups I've trained. She doesn't care about pleasing us. She bites much more than the usual puppy at the same age. I would not get another puppy from this kennel. Caviat emptor. We didn't know. read more